The real estate business is perhaps one of the most competitive service industries there is. I clearly remember my first day in real estate school when the instructor said "he/she who controls the inventory, controls the market". We're conditioned from day one to do three things; get listings, get listings, and get listings! There's nothing about this notion that is necessarily untrue, and as a matter of fact I have benefited personally by concentrating on building up an inventory of properties in a certain subdivision. Some of my most successful colleagues are indeed those who have been able to carve niches for themselves, whether it be in a neighborhood, or in a specific type of property.
This intense competition for properties often leads to real estate agents and their brokerages making certain statements and claims, that I've concluded as a result of both training by Jay Shweppe and personal experience, are simply not true. Don't get me wrong; I'm not implying that there is any intended deception on the part of any real estate professional. We, as an industry, are simply passing on to consumers what we've been taught. Subsequently, we make statements like this, "Our marketing is so effective, that we'll sell your home quickly, and at the highest possible price". The implication being, that marketing can sell real estate. I humbly beg to differ. If this were true then the top three or four brokerages with the most marketing resources would be selling the vast majority of the properties. Even the top dogs in their own markets can muster, at most, a 10% market share at best. There is no doubt that having a far reaching, comprehensive marketing mix is absolutely essential. However, not for the reason that most of us think.
The not-so-evident truth is that marketing never has, and never will sell a single piece of real estate. Marketing can sell products; marketing can sell services. Real estate is neither a product nor a service; it is a commodity! And by loooking at commodity markets, how they work, and what motivates buyers in commodity situations, we will go a long way to understanding, and further educating home owners on how to maximize profit from the sale of their homes-regardless of market conditions!
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